Week 1

Week 1 was horrifying.  I was so sick and in so much pain.  I vomited continuously.  I could not eat or drink. 

Friday was my first pre-op appointment.  By Friday I had not eaten or had anything to drink in 5 days.  I had not stopped vomiting.  I could not get out of bed. 

My amazing husband did everything.  Looked after the kids, the house, and me.  He never left my side.  He was so compassionate and caring.  He administered my medications, all 7 of them and kept track of everything on a note pad. He had me on a schedule so that I would be as comfortable as possible.

However, he got frustrated.  Frustrated with the situation not with me.  He felt helpless, he couldn't help me.  Nothing he tried worked and he was angry, yelling and upset.  This was not the plan. 

Friday morning, I had no strength.  I could not lift my head off the pillow, I could barely open my eyes.  Every time I tried to left my head I threw up, the pain was so bad and I was so nauseous. 

I begged him not to make me go to the hospital.  I had nothing left in me, I was empty.  I gave up.

I have no idea how he managed to get me into the van and drive me 40 minutes to the hospital.  It is all a blur.  I remember being in the wheel chair with my head down, throwing up into a bucket as he was pushing me. 

They brought me into the examination room and when the surgeon arrived she looked shocked.  I begged her to keep me.  I said something is wrong.  She took me off the hydromorphone and immediately administered a zofran sublingual tablet.  The nausea subsided.  We switched to percocet oral every 3-4hours, and zofran sublingual every 8 hours with Tylenol #3 in between as needed.  We also added gravol 100mg every 4 hours.

Finally I started to come around, slowly my strength returned.

It took 2 full weeks before I could walk around.  I was 3 full weeks before I could put on a pair of pants or a button up shirt. 

During this time my husband was my physiotherapist, my personal support worker, my massage therapist and my nurse.  He bathed me, washed my hair, brushed my hair and put it into a pony tail.  He did all the laundry, changed my clothes, packed kids school lunches, drove them to their extracurricular activities, cooked all the meals, and looked after me.  Without any help.  It was all him. 

SuperDad.